Engineering expert suggests ways to boost SRT

The State Railway of Thailand should be reformed to make it an effective locomotive in driving the country's development of a rail-based transport system, an expert said yesterday.

Suchatvee Suwansawat, president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, said the debt-ridden SRT needed to improve its operating efficiency and flexibility so that it could play a greater role in developing the country's railroad network and preparing Thailand as the regional logistics and commercial hub.

One way is to promote more competent persons to the state enterprise. Unfavourable laws and regulations should also be amended to improve its operations, he said at a forum on overhauling the rail system hosted by the institute.

Money is not the only factor to ensure the successful development of mega transport projects. Competent personnel in the agencies in charge of the project are also important, he said.

Nakorn Chantasorn, adviser to the president of the Thailand Rail Technology and Related Industry Development Project at the National Science and Technology Development Agency, said one way to reform the SRT was to restructure its management.

The other option to develop the rail system quickly is to set up an entity overseeing rail-network development, while the SRT focuses on its other core units such as infrastructure maintenance and operations and running the trains.

The Engineering Institute of Thailand and VNU Exhibitions Asia-Pacific will co-launch an "Engineering 2014" event from November 27-30 at the Bitec conference centre. The event will feature seminars with international experts in the engineering field and a product and service exhibition.